Online Collection

Robert Mapplethorpe Exhibition Catalogue

Mapplethorpe (1946–1989) first became famous, not to say notorious, in the 1970s and 1980s, with his photographs of the male nude and scenes of gay sado-masochism. However, these works were not meant to be titillating or obscene but rather to be beautiful in a classical, traditional way. Mapplethorpe sought to depict the beautiful human body – male or female. Now, some sixteen years after Mapplethorpe’s death, we are able to look at his whole oeuvre with an eye less skewed by controversy. These are very much traditional motifs, part of the overarching memento mori (remember that you must die) theme, that is so much part of the Christian iconography.

This book illustrates a broad cross-section of Mapplethorpe’s photographs – male and female nudes, portraits (especially of the New York art world), flowers and children – and contains an essay by Keith Hartley on the interlinked themes of beauty, love, and death in Mapplethorpe’s work.